Thirteen French cities are receiving government support to launch NFC-enabled mobile contactless payment and information services, according to scottrade.com.

The initiative is backed by the Ministry of Industry, which will provide consultancy and engineering assistance for a number of NFC projects ranging from public transit mobile ticketing to m-payments for school lunches.

Among the cities presenting projects are Toulouse, who is looking to manage its car fleet via mobile phone and provide m-payment capabilities for school cafeterias, and Tisseo, who wants to replace its travel card with contactless payment via NFC handsets.

Other participating cities include Caen, Agen, Bordeaux, Lille, Marseille, Montpellier, Paris, Pessac, Rennes, Strasbourg, Troyes and the county of Manche.